{"id":63791,"date":"2026-08-03T02:58:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/63791\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T02:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:58:29","slug":"qld-government-eyes-dna-powers-for-young-offenders-pursuit-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/63791\/","title":{"rendered":"Qld government eyes DNA powers for young offenders, pursuit reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state government has discussed giving police more powers to collect DNA from young offenders<\/a>, Premier David Crisafulli has revealed. <\/p>\n

Mr Crisafulli, speaking at the Queensland Police Union conference, also confirmed the government was supportive of changing the state\u2019s controversial police pursuit policy. <\/p>\n

As is stands police can\u2019t collect DNA from child offenders for intelligence databases <\/a>and have to make applications and get an order based on a specific offence. <\/p>\n

Mr Crisafulli was asked at the conference if the government would consider law reforms to enable routine collection of DNA from youth offenders <\/a>in high-risk circumstances to use as an investigative tool.<\/p>\n

He confirmed it was being discussed with Police Minister Dan Purdie driving the charge, as outlined in the Queensland Police Union\u2019s latest journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the issue about the collection of evidence is something which Dan Purdie has raised. I\u2019m open minded to it, very open minded to it,\u201d Mr Crisafulli said.<\/p>\n

Police union members, at the conference, resolved for the union\u2019s leadership to lobby the state for law changes to hold the drivers of vehicles driving dangerously or evading policy to be held responsible for all injuries and damages they cause.<\/p>\n

Police would be exempt from criminal responsibility as part of the union\u2019s proposed changes.<\/p>\n

The conference also resolved for boxing in stationary vehicles to be reduced from an emergency circumstance to \u201creasonable circumstances\u201d, where the offender has or is about to commit an indictable offence. <\/p>\n

Mr Crisafulli, at the conference, said the government would work with police on its vehicle pursuit policy arguing they shouldn\u2019t be \u201csecond guessing whether or not they are able to do their jobs\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon that\u2019s how it feels at the moment and that has to change, and that must change and it will change,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what that looks like. I don\u2019t know the mechanics of what that formalises in terms of a direction. But at the very least, if we can say, from the Commissioner down, an edict to people that you are not going to be having to second guess the way you police a situation like that, I think that will be a really, really big step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queensland\u2019s police pursuit policy was changed in December 2011, but has been criticised by police for being weak in many cases. <\/p>\n

The changes were made following the death of 22 people and 689 people being injured in the 10 years between 2000-2009, during or following a police pursuit in Queensland.<\/p>\n

One of the victims was Caitlin Hanrick, 13, who was hit and killed by a stolen car during a high-speed police chase while crossing the road outside Redcliffe State High School in 2006. <\/p>\n

The changes followed recommendations from inquests into the deaths. As a result police were banned from high-speed chases unless it was deemed that there was a \u201cimminent threat to life\u201d or if there was a justifiable reason for the pursuit such as the offender committing a serious crime such as murder.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the proposals, high-profile solicitor Nick Dore said they were significant reforms that needed to be considered delicately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe devil will be in the detail as to how the rights of a young person is balanced against whether this will actually create more safety for the community,\u201d Mr Dore said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny move to allow routine DNA collection from children needs to be weighed carefully against the safeguards that currently exist for good reason. These are often young people who may have never been charged, let alone convicted, and expanding intelligence databases without judicial oversight risks treating suspicion as if it were guilt.\u201d <\/p>\n

The police minister\u2019s office was asked for comment on any progress on the proposals, however did not directly respond to questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state government has discussed giving police more powers to collect DNA from young offenders, Premier David Crisafulli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76478,76496,45123,45161,76493,76464,76487,44367,76482,44635,76488,76483,76522,76518,76477,76480,76492,51768,36958,76521,42345,76473,52227,63609,76491,76489,76506,76507,76499,49889,62152,76511,27408,22,21,76469,76465,4543,31752,458,36207,76463,76470,10484,76512,10485,76495,76514,76517,76479,76471,76494,76515,76484,76502,76467,18291,76500,3430,41801,76520,76516,51511,76475,1089,3121,7350,1047,76519,11544,9217,317,51481,76509,76510,212,76485,16460,76462,44811,76468,76497,76513,76501,76503,47391,39506,76505,36941,47486,76474,75792,37538,53447,39868,41017,50202,76486,41866,23380,40910,76490,37772,72872,54448,76504,42089,76481,76498,70015,70640,43131,76466,37964,40686,39484,65059,41783,36698,67797,76476,39400,20368,5716,76472,4382,76508,380],"class_list":["post-63791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-controversial-police-pursuit-policy","tag-s-latest-journal-qld-youth-crime-poll","tag-s-leadership","tag-s-office","tag-s-police-pursuit-policy","tag-s-proposed-changes-the-conference","tag-reasonable-circumstances","tag-44367","tag-2000-2009","tag-44635","tag-22-people","tag-689-people","tag-a-imminent-threat","tag-a-direction","tag-a-high-speed-police-chase","tag-a-justifiable-reason","tag-a-police-pursuit","tag-a-really","tag-a-result","tag-a-serious-crime","tag-a-situation","tag-a-specific-offence","tag-a-stolen-car","tag-a-young-person","tag-all-injuries-and-damages","tag-an-edict","tag-an-emergency-circumstance","tag-an-indictable-offence","tag-an-investigative-tool-he","tag-an-order","tag-any-move","tag-any-progress","tag-applications","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-caitlin-hanrick","tag-child-offenders","tag-children","tag-comment","tag-criminal-responsibility","tag-dan-purdie","tag-december-2011","tag-delicately-qld-youth-crime","tag-dna","tag-dna-blitz","tag-evidence","tag-good-reason","tag-guilt","tag-high-profile-solicitor-nick-dore","tag-high-risk-circumstances","tag-high-speed-chases","tag-inquests","tag-intelligence-databases","tag-its-vehicle-pursuit-policy","tag-judicial-oversight-risks","tag-kid-crims","tag-law-changes","tag-law-reforms","tag-life","tag-many-cases","tag-more-powers","tag-more-safety","tag-mr-crisafulli","tag-mr-dore","tag-overhaul","tag-part","tag-people","tag-police","tag-police-minister-dan-purdie","tag-police-powers","tag-policy","tag-premier","tag-premier-david-crisafulli","tag-pursuits","tag-qld-police-powers","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-one","tag-questions","tag-really-big-step","tag-recommendations","tag-redcliffe-state-high-school","tag-routine-collection","tag-routine-dna-collection","tag-significant-reforms","tag-stationary-vehicles","tag-suspicion","tag-terms","tag-the-10-years","tag-the-changes","tag-the-charge","tag-the-collection","tag-the-commissioner","tag-the-community","tag-the-conference","tag-the-death","tag-the-deaths","tag-the-detail","tag-the-devil","tag-the-drivers","tag-the-government","tag-the-issue","tag-the-mechanics","tag-the-moment","tag-the-offender","tag-the-police-minister","tag-the-proposals","tag-the-pursuit","tag-the-queensland-police-union","tag-the-queensland-police-union-conference","tag-the-right-direction","tag-the-rights","tag-the-road","tag-the-safeguards","tag-the-state","tag-the-state-government","tag-the-union","tag-the-very-least","tag-the-victims","tag-the-way","tag-their-jobs","tag-their-pursuit-policy","tag-union-members","tag-vehicles","tag-warning","tag-young-offenders","tag-young-people","tag-youth-dna","tag-youth-offenders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}